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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26206981">Along the Precipice</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/fieldoffantasies/pseuds/fieldoffantasies'>fieldoffantasies</a>, <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gerbilfriend/pseuds/Gerbilfriend'>Gerbilfriend</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Once Scattered Amongst the Stars [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Earth Girl Trilogy - Janet Edwards</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Tell clan feels</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 08:08:34</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,009</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26206981</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/fieldoffantasies/pseuds/fieldoffantasies, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gerbilfriend/pseuds/Gerbilfriend</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Jarra's had her family around since she was 14, this leads to a few extra variables when the web gets implanted.</p><p>Can stand alone.<br/>Very mild Earth Prime spoilers.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Fian Eklund/Jarra Tell Morrath</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Once Scattered Amongst the Stars [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1903102</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Along the Precipice</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Jarra knew that The Tell clan understood sacrifice.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They would understand what she needed to do.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Why she needed to do it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That was Jarra's best chance. She was Military like them now and if this was what she had to do then she was going to do it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They would understand.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She needed to do this. For the Handicapped and for the rest of humanity, she needed to do it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>(She could still be relieved that her parents and Gemelle were off world and Drago and Jaxon were on shift, it would be easier if they didn't know.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They wouldn’t have to blame themselves for her choice then.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She could spare them that much)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>~~~</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nia Stone had made many difficult decisions in her military career. None were quite as difficult as deciding to ask Jarra Tell Morrath to undergo an operation that could kill her for the sake of humanity. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>If it succeeded, Jarra would have the universe.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span> If it failed, alien contact failed and humanity would have an alien planet there with no way to access it and find out more about them. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They would not be able to possibly find information on the origin of the greatest threat humanity had ever faced - the Chimera. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Either way Nia was probably doomed. As soon as General Torrek was decanted from his rejuvenation treatment, he was going to destroy her and Mason’s careers for allowing his granddaughter to go through with this.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>~~~</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gemelle Tell Feren was not thrilled with her younger sister for choosing to undergo a dangerous operation, but she had been in no position to stop her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The Isolationists were still determined to kill her sister, there was no way she wasn’t going to work to stop them. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She and Royal were supposed to go to Zulu Base next, but that wasn’t going to happen.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Grandfather…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>~~~</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jaxon jumped out of his fighter and just knew something was wrong. It was in the air of the base, the tension.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>What happened now?</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Drago obviously felt the tension as well. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Do you think Jarra’s okay?”. Jaxon knew it was a stupid question. She was arrested for her own safety and technically in military prison.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Technically because no one was putting his baby sister in a jail cell. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>(And it didn’t matter that Jarra was not fourteen-thirteen anymore, she was his baby sister and was always going to stay that way).</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaxon shifted as he and Drago finished the post-flight routine.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was hard not to rush.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Finally it was over. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Something is definitely wrong. </span>
  </em>
  <span>It was in how the people looked at him when they passed in the hallways, like they were checking to see if he was about to explode and worried about him at the same time.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They were looking at Drago the same way. The same feeling of something is going to blow soon.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was not comforting.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Then he saw Fian walking towards him, Raven next to him, a red regrowth unit stuck on his arm. Jarra wasn’t with them.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaxon’s first thought was that there had been another attempt but that couldn’t have been true because he would have been told if that was the case.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They would have told him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He had his look up set for alerts like that.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That wasn’t what happened.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaxon saw something in Fian’s eyes. Not quite guilt but apprehension.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The pieces were coming together.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>No.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>This was something else. “She didn’t”, Jaxon blurted out, mouth working without his consent. He saw the confirmation in Fian’s eyes, the words he none of them wanted to say out loud.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>No.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Not Jarra.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Beside him Drago was saying something but Jaxon couldn’t hear anything above the rushing in his ears.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The disconnect.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Because the operation only had a fifty one percent chance of success and Jarra never had any luck when it came to matters of chance.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Before he realized it he was running.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>~~~</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leveque had calculated that there was a fifteen percent chance that he would be shot when one of Jarra’s family found out what he had done.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It would have been ten but he had increased the number because Jarra, by Betan standards if not by her own, was underaged.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He wanted to lean on Nia for support but that wouldn’t be fair. Not at a confrontation like this.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Not when it was a confrontation of his own making.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>No, he needed to face this Chimera, even if the Chimera was now the Tell Clan.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaxon and Drago were furious, all the bitter anger of a Betan clan family had been threatened.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And they were only the first wave.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>~~~</span>
</p><p>
  <span>General Riak Torrek was not a happy person when he came back from his rejuvenation treatment. Many things had happened in the two weeks it took him to be decanted.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span> First, they discovered the alien planet in Zeta sector. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That was about the only good part.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span> Next, Jarra had figured out that the Chimera were still out there. And subsequently managed to get herself thrown in military prison for being reckless with her own life. And then his deputies had to assist in this by allowing her to undergo the process to implant the artificial web for her immune system so she could go off world to Fortuna.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span> No Riak Torrek was not at all happy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>~~~</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leveque had faced the siblings, because Drago was basically another older brother to Jarra and both of them had been outraged.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He had faced the parents, another special level of pain because he was a father and if their positions were reversed Leveque knew that even he couldn’t predict what he would have done.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Now he had to face General Torrek.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His commanding officer and long time friend.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jarra’s grandfather.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why should I not demote you to guarding an iceberg on Winter?”.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I have no excuse”.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He didn’t. He had reasons but they would not excuse his actions, not excuse the risk he had gotten Jarra to take.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>(He had known there was over a ninety percent chance of her agreeing if there was no one to stop her, that Jarra had run the numbers as well and knew what would happen.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He had used that.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There was no excuse for that.)</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>General Torrek sighed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Well. Leveque thought there was a seventy percent chance that he tried to sigh.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It did not sound like a sigh. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It sounded like barely contained rage. Like a reminder that General Torrek had been married to a member of the Tell Clan and as mild as he normally was there was a reason for that.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thank you sir”.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>~~~</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The web had failed and Marrack was struggling as he watched Jarra thrash, her face contorted from the pain that he could do nothing about.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He wanted to do something.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Anything.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There was nothing he could do. Nothing at all.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That seemed to be a theme when it came to his youngest daughter.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There was never anything that he could do for her. Not when it really mattered.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So he watched as she was resubmerged and tried not to think about what the doctors were saying because Jaxon and Drago were already on edge and even if his father was here as well it wasn’t fair to lean on him alone.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Not when his father already bore so many burdens.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Marrack would update his clan.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Then they would wait for further news.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was all he could do. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Just like always.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>~~~</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Drago was concerned. Ever since Jarra had gone into the tank and things had not worked out as planned, Jaxon had been stalking the base halls and getting questionable amounts of sleep. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Fian had annihilated his and Jarra's apartment and now almost downright refused to leave her hospital dome. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jarra's situation combined with Gemelle going into deep cover meant that everyone else in the clan was also stressed beyond belief. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Riak, Marrack, and Gemena had circles under their eyes that kept growing darker and darker. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Drago himself was certain that he was beginning to look the same. Life, in short, was not going well.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Eventually, Marlise got tired of his and everyone else's deterioration. "You are going to all sit down and figure something out. Otherwise, the base is going to come crashing down with no warning due to something preventable." And so, they were all gathered, together, in Jarra's hospital dome. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Doctors Capria and Carolina Kar Broussard were not exactly thrilled about their presence in the hospital and they were certain that Doctor Loris Kar Howell would be of the same mind once their presence was complained about. All in all, things needed to be worked out quickly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>~~~</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Fian had gotten along with Jaxon and Drago before.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Well, sort of. Neither of them had quite forgiven him for the things he said out of surprise when Jarra had first told him she was handicapped.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Still.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They had all tried, for Jarra's sake if not for their own.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was ironic that it was now, when Jarra was not there, that they were getting along best.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Even if it mostly consisted of organizing shifts.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>~~~</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Two months in, they had gotten their system mostly worked out. Occasionally something urgent would come up and screw up the entire schedule, but at least one person was always with Jarra. Just in case.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Fian now left the dome, but he still slept there, only a couple seconds away in case anything happened. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Drago, Jaxon, Riak, Gemena, and Marrack were still there whenever they could be.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>No one had heard from Gemelle or Royal in months.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jarra looked the same simply floating in the tank day after day. There were small changes here and there but overall, they were all still waiting for the news that the solution was ready and they’d be able to talk to Jarra again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>~~~</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Despite Jarra's request that no other people got to see her, her room was filled to the brim when she awoke. Despite Carolina's and Loris’s best attempts, they could not keep the combined force of multiple Tell clan members out of the room - especially since there was no immediate danger.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Nuking hell Jarra!" Drago yelled the second he noticed she was awake. "You did this without saying anything to any of us!"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Everyone's faces were a strange mixture of really ticked off and overly relieved.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaxon was the next to speak. "Three months Jarra! Three! You almost died! We almost lost you again!"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Eventually Leveque came in to end the tirades.  “I’m sorry to interrupt, but we have limited time and psych division says that the newzies are ready”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The reminder had a sobering effect on the entire group and silence fell.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Right.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I need to go to Fortuna, otherwise all of this was for nothing.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>~~~</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mason Leveque was overjoyed that Jarra Tell Morrath is alive. Ecstatic even. He might be able to walk through base without receiving a death glare from every member of the Tell clan he passed along with a good portion of the fighter pilots. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Really Mason Leveque is thrilled to be alive. He was certain that the Tell clan could’ve gotten rid of him with no evidence pointing to them. Maybe that was their plan if Jarra hadn’t survived. Really, it was a very good thing Jarra lived.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>(And not just for his guilty conscience, for the knowledge that for all Jarra had made the choice of her own free will he had set it up so she would.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That he had known her answer before she had even asked the question.)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>~~~</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When Jarra was just a baby Gemena had had her daughter wrenched from her arms and into the portal that she had hoped, prayed, would stay inert.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It had been a whirlwind gone wrong. Her world turned overhead as she grappled with what it would be for Jarra, for her, for their family.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Now, for the second time in her life Gemena was watching Jarra portal to the stars. Was watching her daughter upend her world.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>This time though, humanity was watching with her as well.</span>
</p>
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